Cordillera Blanca Climbing Course & Summits

12 or 13 Days

We combine an intensive mountaineering instruction course with climbing one or two follow up summits in the Peruvian Andes, with the option of making your final objective to reach the summit of a 6000m peak.

You will be instructed & extended to achieve your goals and surpass them by our local experienced & professional UIAGM International Mountain Guide / Instructor(s).

Martin from Canada who did the 12 day Climbing Course & Summits Program said: Everything was great! The guides & cooks performance were extraordinary. The introduction course was perfect for a novice. Gracias!

Dates: We do not have fixed dates for instruction courses but instead organise trips “on demand” to suit the dates of your travel plans. The best time for this intensive course is June to late August which is when the high mountain weather is generally more settled.

Climbing Course Descriptions:

The courses outlined below are general only. We will “tailor” make a course for you depending on your level of experience and which skills you may particularly wish to practice, and also the mix between rock and ice climbing that you would like and the number of days that you have available.

Beginners Climbing Instruction Course 5 Days:

This course is an ideal introduction to mountaineering.
At the end of you course you should have the skills & confidence to travel glaciated terrain, be able to attempt non technical “trekking peaks” and have confidence to be guided on more technical climbs.

Instruction will cover these topics and exact course content will vary depending on your previous experience & skills, fitness level, weather conditions & your “wish list” of particular topics you will like to cover in the course.

Berne & Karen from New Zealand / Beginner Climbing Instruction & Summits said: Over all three of our climbing adventures all staff, guides, cooks, porters & donkey drivers looked after us with great care & consideration, even in our moments of terror and triumph in the snow. Due to our lack of Spanish it was great to have guides with such good English. It made it easier during the instruction and any incidents that occurred.

Intermediate Instruction Course 5 Days

This is a comprehensive & intensive mountaineering course that extends the skills taught in the beginners course with intensive practice of the skills you already have & includes more advanced rescue techniques, ice climbing and introduction to lead climbing.

The objective is for you to finish the course with the skills & confidence to travel on almost all alpine terrain safely. For this course you need to already have basic climbing techniques including roping up for glacier travel, confidence using crampons & ice axe, operate a belay and build simple anchors.

Instruction will cover these topics and exact course content will vary depending on your previous experience & skills, fitness level, weather conditions & your “wish list” of particular topics you will like to cover in the course.

This is a climbing course for experienced climbers.
Emphasis is placed on instruction taking place up on the mountain and in the participants making the decisions and controlling the climbing & rescues – under the close supervision of our UIAGM instructor.

You will be working on routes and put into situations that will challenge you but also allow you to learn now skills & refine your techniques.

We base our instruction course and then the follow up summits in two different areas, with the intention of allowing you to enjoy a variety of locations, scenery and having a grand overview of Cordillera Blanca mountaineering opportunities.

The mountains that we base our course and follow up summits are:

Instruction Course: Vallunaraju 5686m (18655 ft)

Vallunaraju is easily accessed from Huaraz and with a wide variety of rock, ice forms, slopes, ice walls and crevasses is an ideal site for a climbing course and it is where the Peruvian Mountain Guides come for training courses and to practice.

Basing your instruction close to Huaraz allows the opportunity to return to Huaraz for a couple of nights rest & recreation (and hot showers) before departing for the two summits trip.

Rock and Ice Climbing Instruction on Vallunaraju

Follow Up Summits:

We have three options here.

These are completely flexible and we can “tailor” make an instruction course and summits program for you depending on what you would like to do.

TWIN PEAKS ADVENTURE: 12 Days

*Pisco 5752m
*Yanapaccha 5460m
This program is designed to be an achievable and rewarding high mountain climbing experience.
Pisco & Yanapaccha are both accessed from the Llanganuco Valley where we also find the famous twin lakes of Llanganuco.
Pisco is a great follow up peak to the climbing instruction course, and then we finish with the more technically challenging Yanapaccha. After completion of this instruction course and two follow up peaks you should be equipped with good basic climbing skills & be ready to progress to more technical climbing.

In most years, there is no technical climbing on Pisco. There sometimes can be short steep sections or some hard ice or a crevasse to navigate around in some years depending on conditions & these will be ideal places to practice your newly acquired climbing skills. From the summit you are rewarded with magnificent views of the many surrounding peaks, including the massive Huascarán at 6768m – the highest mountain in Peru.

Sunrise on Pisco

Yanapaccha 5460m (17913 ft)Grade: AD- / some steep climbing

Yanapaccha is situated adjacent to popular Pisco, but is much less well known than Pisco and is less frequented by climbers. It is a moderately difficult climb with some steep sections, with a slope of up to 65 deg. to reach the summit.

Yanapaccha is not suitable for first time climbers, but an ideal follow up practice peak for novice climbers who have received instruction.

Yanapaccha Glacier Summit Push Yanapaccha

Program Summary 12 Days:

This is a brief description only: Contact Us for more information & prices.

Day 1: Instruction Course Starts. Drive 1½ hours from Huaraz to the Llaca Valley. Then we climb steeply up a ridge for 2 to 3 hours to Morena Camp Vallunaraju 5130m. In the afternoon we practice using ropes, knots and have some rock climbing instruction .

Days 2, 3, 4: Instruction days on Vallunaraju Glacier , based from Vallunaraju Morena Camp

Day 5: Either climb to the summit of Vallunaraju or have an extra day instruction. Return to Huaraz late in the afternoon.

Day 6: REST DAY in Huaraz & prepare your equipment for the summit climbs.

Pisco & Yanapaccha Summits:

Day 7: Drive from Huaraz to Cebollapampa in Llanganuco Valley 3850m. Climb on a good path to Pisco Base Camp. 4650m 2½ hours.

Day 8: Climb over moraine rocks to Morena Camp. 4900m 3 hours

Day 9: 40 minutes climb on moraine to the glacier, then on the snow for about 4 to 5 hours to the summit. Return to Base Camp mid afternoon. About 10 to 12 hours total for the day.

Photo Time: Pisco Summit

Day 10: An easy descent down to the road at Cebollapampa 1½ hours where we camp & rest for the afternoon.

Day 11: Drive from Cebollapampa up to a hairpin bend in the zig zag road called the “Curva” at 4580m. From here we hike to Yanapaccha Morena Camp for about 3 to 3 ½ hours until we reach the campsite. (5000m)

Day 12: The initial ascent on to the glacier is usually a short steep ice climb & then there is more gentle terrain on the glacier We negotiate crevasse fields to arrive at the west face of Yanapaccha which we climb to the summit. The last 200m to reach the summit is steep 65 deg. About 3 to 4 rappels are required during the descent. Return back to Morena Camp & then back to the road where our private vehicle will be waiting for us (10 to 11 hours for the day) and we return back to Huaraz.

Having Fun on Yanapaccha

6000m CHALLENGE: 12 Days

*Ishinca 5530m (18143 ft)
*Tocllaraju 6034m (19797 ft)

The ambition of many climbers is to be able to reach the summit of a 6000m peak. We give you the opportunity to realise this dream by taking you into the Ishinca Valley, with first a warm up climb of 5530m Ishinca and then to the ultimate challenge of 6034m Tocllaraju.

Your initial 5 day intensive instruction could will give you skills & confidence to tackle a BIG mountain with some sections of technical steep climbing.

Program Summary 12 Days:

This is a brief description only: Contact Us for more information & prices.

Day 1: Instruction Course Starts.
Drive 1½ hours from Huaraz to the Llaca Valley. Then we climb steeply up a ridge for 2 to 3 hours to Morena Camp 5130m. In the afternoon we practise using ropes, knots and have some rock climbing instruction.

Days 2, 3, 4: Instruction days on Vallunaraju Glacier, based from Vallunaraju Morena Camp.

Climbing Class on Vallunaraju

Day 5: Either climb to the summit of Vallunaraju or have an extra day instruction. Return to Huaraz late in the afternoon.

Vallunaraju Summit day

Day 6: REST DAY in Huaraz & prepare your equipment for the summit climbs.

Ishinca & Tocllaraju Climbs

Day 7: Drive from Huaraz to the village of Pashpa or Collon. A relaxing gentle hike to Base Camp at 4390m. 4 to 5 hours.

Ishinca Base Camp, Tocllaraju is on the left

Day 8: Climb Ishinca. Leave camp early with a steady climb initially on a good path to Lake Ishinca 2½ to 3 hours. Some of the way is over loose rock and large moraine rock until we reach the ice. Generally the climb to the summit is not too steep apart from the final 20 metres to the summit. In some years depending on the condition of the glacier there can be some short steep sections or hard ice. Return to Base Camp. 9 to 12 hours depending on fitness.

Day 9: REST DAY or bad weather day.

Climbing Towards Ishinca Summit

Day 10: Carrying all our equipment we climb to High Camp Tocllaraju. A steep climb on a moraine ridge and across large moraine rocks 3 hours to where we set up our camp on the moraine immediately below the glacier at Morena Camp (5300m).

Day 11: Climb to the summit Tocllaraju. There are long sections of easy climbing mixed with steep and technical climbing with ice walls and crevasses to negotiate around. Return back to Base Camp in Ishinca Valley. 11 to 13 hours.

Tocllaraju

Day 12: Walk down the Ishinca Valley to Pashpa and return to Huaraz in our private van.

CHOPICALQUI EXPEDITION: 13 Days

Chopicalqui 6354m (20847 ft)
with Yanapaccha Climb

For those looking for the extra challenge of a multi day expedition climbing one of the biggest peaks in the Cordillera Blanca.

Chopicalqui, at 6354m, is sometimes referred to as the “third peak of Huascarán”. It is a demanding peak to climb, with sections of steep ice climbing. Chopicalqui is not a suitable peak for beginner climbers but a great peak for strong clients who have finished a climbing course and are looking for a physically demanding challenge.

Chopicalqui from Base Camp

Program Summary 12 Days:

This is a brief description only: Contact Us for more information & prices.

Day 5: Climb to Summit of Vallunaraju OR an extra day instruction & return to Huaraz (hotel)

Day 6: Huaraz. REST DAY (hotel)

Day 7: Hike to Yanapaccha Morena Camp from the “Curva”.

Day 8: The initial ascent on to the Yanapaccha glacier is usually a short steep ice climb & then there is more gentle terrain on the glacier. We negotiate crevasse fields to arrive at the west face of Yanapaccha which we climb to the summit. The last 200m to reach the summit is steep 65 deg. About 3 to 4 rappels are required during the descent. Return back to Morena Camp & then back to the road which we follow down hiking before taking a short cut through to Chopicalqui Base Camp 4430m. About 11 to 12 hours for the day.

Day 9: REST DAY at Chopicalqui Base Camp

Day 10: A tough day as we have to carry all equipment climbing up steeply through moraine rock to Morena Camp at 4820m. 5 to 6 hoursDay 11: Initially climbing up on loose moraine rock and then on the ice. Steady climbing up the glacier on approx. 30 deg. of crevasses snow slopes to high Camp 5380m. 5 to 6 hours

Day 12: Climb to the summit. There are seracs & crevasses to avoid or negotiate through. Mixed slopes from some easy 30 to 45 deg. slopes up to some steep & technical ice wall climbing, possibly short sections around 75 deg. to the summit. From the summit we descend back by climbing and abseiling to High Camp; if you are feeling strong, we can continue back down to Moraine Camp. From 10 to 13 hours for the dayDay 13: Descend to Base Camp – 5 to 6 hours – then return to the road head and on to Huaraz in our private vehicle.

If you know, tell us the approximate dates that you would like to be climbing and the number of people in your group, as well as if you prefer a private climb or would be happy to join with other people.